Nuveen Investments launches suite of five ETFs centered on ESG issues

By Tali Rackner

Norfolk, Va., Dec. 14 – Nuveen Investments Inc. launched a group of five exchange-traded funds that track indexes employing environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria, according to a press release.

The NuShares ESG Large-Cap Value exchange-traded fund (tracks TIAA ESG USA Large-Cap Value index), NuShares ESG Large-Cap Growth exchange-traded fund (tracks TIAA ESG USA Large-Cap Growth index), NuShares ESG Mid-Cap Value exchange-traded fund (tracks TIAA ESG USA Mid-Cap Value index), NuShares ESG Mid-Cap Growth exchange-traded fund (tracks TIAA ESG USA Mid-Cap Growth index) and NuShares ESG Small-Cap exchange-traded fund (tracks TIAA ESG USA Small-Cap index) began trading on Wednesday on the Bats Exchange, Inc.

The ETFs seek to track the investment performance of the U.S. stock market across various market capitalizations and investment styles while giving special consideration to certain ESG criteria, the release said.

The underlying investments in each index are selected with consideration given to certain ESG criteria initially established by the funds’ sub-adviser, Teachers Advisors, LLC. ESG performance is measured on an industry-specific basis, with assessment categories varying by industry.

“Following the success of our initial ETF offering, NuShares Enhanced Yield U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (NUAG), we are pleased to bring this new suite of ETFs to the market as we strive to offer our clients products that are most meaningful to their long-term portfolio needs and success,” Martin Kremenstein, Nuveen managing director and head of exchange-traded funds, said in the release.

“This latest offering highlights the many areas of strength across our firm as we are able to leverage the widely respected ESG expertise of TIAA with the product development and service platform of Nuveen.”

Chicago-based Nuveen Investments is a fund manager and an operating division of TIAA Global Asset Management. The indexes are owned, calculated and controlled by MSCI, Inc.; TIAA has licensed its name to MSCI for use in the names of the indices.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.